these girls. if you give them the right tools, they are capable of moving forward. girls. if you give them the right tools they're capable of moving forward. >> zoom camera three. >> the general, the other woman and the other other woman. could that uncover more than one extramarital affair? >> pretty much done on camera two. >> why general petraeus could be the only person to vindicate or incriminate the white house for the consulate attack in benghazi. plus, the grand ole party in need of a makeover. >> you not only have that problem but -- >> an angry white man problem. >> the gop needs new faces or face extinction.

and coast to coast, tributes to men and women who fight for our freedom. tonight, we honor america's veterans. >> stand by and take it. hello, i'm don lemon. first we get you caught up on the headlines. people came out to thank our heroes. in new york they aided victims of superstorm sandy collecting winter coats for those hit hardest by the storm and arlington national cemetery president obama laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns and met with families who lost loved ones. lawmakers have pointed questions about the investigation into david petraeus' extramarital affair and want to know if national security was breached.

peter king talked with candy crowley. >> they're saying the fbi didn't realize until election day that general petraeus was involved. it just doesn't add up. >> petraeus resigned from his post friday and admitted he had an affair. sources say the affair was with his biographer paula broadwell. immigration reform appears to be in the works. charles schumer and lindsey graham say their plan involves a tough love path to citizenship. that plan went nowhere when they teamed up. there may be fresh motivation after election losses. the death toll from sandy climbed to at least 113 with two more deaths reported in new york. two weeks after it crashed through residents in new york and new jersey are still cle clearing debris from their homes.

the path rail system into manhattan will resume 5:00 a.m. serious divergent rebel groups are formally united after the pressure from u.s. and arab nations. opposition leaders met in qatar and agreed to call their new group the national collisialiti forces of the syrian revolution. it's considered a final step no order to oust bashar. his group is fighting terrorists bent on destabilizing syria. israel fired warning shots telling syria keep that civil war inside your own country. a spokesman said a shell hit a post today and they are deeply concerned about the potential for he kalejs. israel is ready to ramp up its reaction to recent rocket

attacks from gaza. this is video of the rockets being launched. dozens of rocketed struck israel overnight injuring four civilians. benjamin netanyahu says -- >> i would like to add that the forces will act firmly against the terrorist organization in the gaza strip. the world needs to know israel will not sit with their arms crossed. >> netanyahu blames hamas. scores in indianapolis can't go home after a massive explosion late yesterday tore through a neighborhood killing two people and injure iing seve others. damage costs are estimated at $3.6 million. about 200 were evacuated. local and federal authorities

are investigating what caused that explosion. have you been missing the hockey brawls with the nhl season on hold? no worries, there is nascar. always nascar. after being clipped by clint boyer today in phoenix, jeff gordon waited for the revenge. look at that, gordon took out boyer's number 15 car which started this entire team -- well, to go in after gordon. but gordon's crew was able to come to his defense in time, and the brawl was on. incredible video there. slowing it down so you can take a look at it. apparently this feud started earlier in the season, and if today is any indication, it is only going to escalate. as we heard in new york, new workweek in washington, new twists and turns in the resignation of the cia director david petraeus. top members of congress spoke out on the sunday shows unhappy that they were the last to know

about details that were brought to life about his relationship with h biographer paula broadwell. and we hear that the house spokesman eric cantor did know, and his spokesman said he got the information from a whistle-blower. our athena jones has more. >> reporter: as more facts emerge about the circumstances surrounding david petraeus' job, so do questions. >> i have so many questions. >> reporter: like who knew what when about complaint s that paula broadwell sent harassing e-mails to a woman close to petraeus. according to a u.s. official it was that probe that revealed an affair between petraeus and broadwell. james clapper learned of an investigation in a phone call from the fbi on election night. clapper told the white house wednesday according to a senior u.s. intelligence official, but it is unclear when the fbi probe began. >> the fbi director had the obligation to tell the president or the national security council

at the earliest date, so it has been going on for several months it seems and now it appears that they're saying that the fbi didn't realize until election day that general petraeus was involved. it does not add up. >> reporter: among the other questions, why weren't key lawmakers told sooner? the house and the senate intelligence committees were not informed until friday. >> are you going to investigate why the fbi did not notify you before? >> yes, absolutely. this is something that could have had an effect on national security. i think that we should have been told. >> reporter: not everyone on the hill was totally in the dark. house majority leader eric cantor said an fbi employee told him about petraeus' affair and a possible security breach in october after the investigation had begun. a u.s. official says that the general's communications were never compromised and he was never the target of the investigation. another issue, petraeus stepped down days before he was supposed

to testify before a senate committee about the attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. acting cia director michael morrell will testify instead, but some republicans are not pleased. >> at the end of the day, one thing that has to happen in my view is we got to get to the bottom of the benghazi, and i don't see how in the world can you find out what happened in benghazi before, during and after the attack if general petraeus does not testify. >> reporter: cnn has not been able to reach broadwell for comment. >> athena jones reporting. author william boyle has spoken to general petraeus and worked with him and followed his career up close as he researched a book after iraq, and i asked him what it was like to interview petraeus. >> i wrote a book about him and i interviewed him -- a book about iraq and interviewed him in 2010 and when i asked him for an interview, i got an e-mail response from him directly like

that. i got other e-mails from him subsequent to that, subsequent to our interview, where he was enthusiastic and supportive and cheering me on for getting good reviews, and it was like i had a mentor. you know, he is very effective personally. but then when i start reading about the fact that he may have been obsessively e-mailing his mistress and so forth, he struck me as a man who may have had a digital addiction or a digital, almost like a digital mania, which i think all of us can maybe relate to these days, because he's a guy who was constantly e-mailing, texting and perhaps he was googling himself too much and should have had a real life. he lived in a bubble where he was lionized by the military and by the press, and that turns out to have been of course very unhealthy. >> that was author william doyle who interviewed david petraeus for his book "a soldier's dream."

president obama won re-election with just 29% of the white vote. what's that mean? that's next.

conversation i look forward to and i'm sure you do, too, every sunday, because it always gets real. all right. one side is still celebrating and the other side still second-guessing, so let's talk politics and look ahead to what tuesday's election means with cnn contributors, will cain and

lz granderson. earlier i called you will granderson to fred, and i don't know what i have been thinking, because you morphed into one person. lz is a senior writer for espn and will cain is a cnn contributor. let's look at some numbers here and be serious for a moment. barack obama got 93% of the black vote and 73% of the asian vote and 71% of the latino vote and 55% of the women's vote and 39% of the overall white vote. so let's talk about the future here. will cain, if democrats can win the white house with less than 40% of the white vote, so is a gop going to have to change its message and become more diverse? >> well, you said change its message. it is going to have to be more diverse, but does it need to change the message? well, that depends if you ask me if they need to change the ideology and the answer is no. they have to change the way they communicate the ideology and the answer is clearly yes. it is interesting, don, because before this election a lot of conservatives were saying that

mitt romney was going to win in a landslide and you heard that and they got it incredibly wrong? how did they get it incredibly wrong, because those numbers you showed just a moment ago assumed that the 2008 numbers and it is a good assumption that they were a historical aberration, and that his election was infused with such enthusiasm there's no way that's matched in 2012. no way to be matched, but it was. so i will let lz in. >> yes, stop filibustering. >> barack obama is a phenomenal candidate and a guy that people want to believe in, so i don't know that the days after a butt-whooping are a best time to have a self-evaluation moment. let some rationality set in. >> well, okay. all right. go ahead, lz. >> well, you know, i think that will talked a lot about what needs to happen. they need to go back and they need to take a look at about how to get more diverse, but it is important to remember that diversity is not an external

thing. we are so used to checking things like black people and latinos and women, but it is about diversity of thought. that is where will and i separate, because i do believe they need to change the message, and they need to change the message because it is not how someone looks but how they think, and how they think is why people did not run to romney and people went to president obama. yes, he is a phenomenal politician and great orator, but more importantly, he was a pretty good president the first term especially considering what he had to deal with. and republicans keep getting away from that particular fact, that, yes, he is black, and, yes, he is a great speaker, but, oh, by the way, he actually did some things that a lot of people support and agree with, and that is about the diversity of thought and not just about how you look. >> i am telling you that my side needs to do a better job of explaining how my message helps everyone, but the other side needs to be honest about not pandering and creating a false war, as well. >> it was not a false war, but i believe that democrats have a huge race problem just as the republicans do.

you cannot continue to hemorrhage the white vote and think that you will get the white house. the democrats have to find out how to get their message across saying we want diversity, but it also includes heterosexual white males and we are not excluding you in the umbrella of diversity, but include you. right now the democrats are in my opinion having a tough time getting that message across. a veteran, he's a former machine gunner in iraq who came home from iraq and struggled to find some solace in his life, until he found opera. that is next. ñç@rño

marine sergeant kristen ellis was a machine gunner in iraq but after returning home, he joined the millions of americans struggling to piece their lives back together in the shadows of posttraumatic stress disorder and for ellis, this therapy came in the form of opera. photojournalist gabe ramirez explains. >> i identified so much as being a combat marine that i didn't think anything else outside the world would matter, but then people started to notice

other talents of mine. i met charlie enberg and he issued a challenge. i want you to create a story that can be possibly turned into a musical. i had this idea and this story being this opera "fallujah." all aspects of the opera come from experiences of my own life. i joined the marine corps because i was one of those young men who didn't have any goals in life. so i thought that i'd be this kick ass guy with all of these cool machine guns on both hands, and at that time what i perceived to be war was what i took off of the movies. that is before i got into the combat zone, but when we got there, that is when everything changed. 2004, we were deployed to fallujah. ♪ >> i mean, i remember what we went through was quite

significant. it was intense. you know, things got heavy. i mean, we prayed we'd make it out. the pain has been so intense. the guilt has been so extraordinary. it's been rough. you know, i have dealt with suicide many times. ♪ trying to survive ♪ trying to survive >> it is going to be in your face not realizing what war is like, and this is what veterans go through and this is what veterans experience on a day-to-day basis. so this whole process from the beginning has helped me accept and calm a lot of the turmoil in my head. ♪

coming home is not easy at all. coming home for any combat veteran is probably the most difficult thing they will ever have to do. i still struggle, i struggle hard, but the best part is that i do see that light. a piece of hollywood history just sold at auction, and the price tag, wow! next.

now to the big stories in the week ahead, president obama checks on storm relief efforts in the northeast, and gop governors meet in las vegas and two key economic figures will be released, and how will wall street react? plus, we're talking bond, james bond on "showbiz tonight." let's begin with the president's plans for the week. >> i'm jessica yellin at the white house. in the coming week, president obama will honor america's veterans with a wreath ceremony at arlington cemetery.

midweek, he will hold his first news conference since the re-election in the east room of the white house. he will visit the new york area to tour the recovery efforts from superstorm sandy. and on friday, to end the week, he will meet right here at the white house with leaders from both the house and the senate, both democrats and republicans, to begin negotiations over the fiscal cliff. i'm paul steinhauser at the cnn political desk. wednesday and thursday, gop governors meet in las vegas for the republican governor's association's annual get-together. among those attending are possible contenders for the next republican presidential nomination. next weekend, senator marco rubio, who may also have designs on the white house, headlines a gop event in iowa. i'm poppy harlow. wall street will have all eyes on congress this week as lawmakers return from recess. the big issue, the fiscal cliff. will congress act or won't it? that is what wall street wants to know. also coming up, some major earnings reports.

we will hear from dell, target and home depot. two key announcements coming out. october retail sales and key inflation readings. that is all ahead and we will keep you posted on cnn money. >> i'm a.j. hammer, and with "showbiz tonight," and politics and couture is back. it is a new season of "the housewives of beverly hills." we are getting exclusives from brandy glanville about the series secrets. and we've had the hype. now we will find out if "skyfall" soars into history as the greatest james bond movie ever. >> it is one of the most memorable moments in film history. ♪ you're off to see the wizard the wonderful wizard of oz ♪ ♪ if ever there was a wizard there was ♪ and now dorothy's iconic gingham dress has a new home. someone paid $480,000 for the dress at auction this weekend

the costume was one of several pieces of hollywood history up for sale from julian's auction house in beverly hills. items from marilyn monroe, and steve mcqueen and julie andrews also sold. are new york lawmakers worried that they may play fast and loose with payouts to victims of superstorm sandy? that's next. ñ? when back pain slows you down,

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half past the hour, and look at the headlines now. citizens across the nation paused to pay tribute to the heroes at arlington national cemetery and the president laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown. he told those gathered that his administration will not let up to make sure that the veterans get the health care they need when they need it. why weren't we told? and how do we know there weren't security breaches? that is what some high-level lawmakers are asking the fbi as more facts come in about the david petraeus resignation. new york congressman peter king talked with cnn's candy crowley. >> it seems this has been going on for several months and yet now it appears that the fbi didn't realize until election day that general petraeus was involved. it just doesn't add up. >> petraeus resigned from his post of cia director and

admitted he had an affair, and then sources say that the affair was with his biographer paula broadwell. two newly reported deaths have raised the death toll of sandy to at least 113. power has been restored in most of new york and new jersey, but full-blown protests have erupted on long island with hundreds of angry residents picketing the utility provider. more on that in a moment on cnn. a bipartisan plan for immigration reform appears to be in the works. charles schumer and lindsey graham says their plan includes a tough love look at immigration. they teamed up in 2009, but that plan went nowhere, but republicans may have more motivation after the losses last week. scores of residents still can't go home tonight after a massive explosion last night in a neighborhood where 200 people were evacuated. in indianapolis, the spark

damaged 30 homes and damage is estimated at $36 million. about 200 people were evacuated and the federal and the local authorities are still investigating what caused the explosion. in north dakota, there's no question about it, winter has arrived. parts of bismarck got ten inches of snow this weekend and other corners of the state got as much as a foot and a half. no more snow is expected this week, though, but the temperatures are not expected to rise above freezing until friday. okay. ever been to a nascar race and a hockey-style fight broke out? it happened today in phoenix. take a look at this. there's jeff gordon who got some revenge after being clipped by clint bowyer. gordon took out bowyer's 15 car and then the entire team went after gordon, and there you see it there. but gordon's team was able to come to his defense in time, and the brawl was on. apparently, this feud started earlier in the season.

and if today is any indication, it is going to be a long season that is not over yet. and now, let's talk about the e-mail investigation that sparked the resignation of cia director david petraeus. as we've been reporting, we are told at cnn that there was a complaint that his biographer paula broadwell was sending harassing e-mails to a another woman close to petraeus. tom fuentes is the former fbi assistant director and also a cnn investigator, and i asked him about the cia e-mails. >> well, that is the concern when it starts, but when you look into that in the cia or the fbi headquarters or any of the intel agencies, often you have dual computer systems to receive outside e-mails, because somebody may send a complaint over the public internet service providers and then of course, you have the classified e-mail systems internally and they're completely separate, but the fact that someone is receiving a threat at that level, they have to investigate and look at the nature of the threat, and look at the person making the threats, and start subpoenaing

that person's records to see if they are threatening other officials or if there is more to the story, and who they are connected with. during that subsequent part of the investigation, that is where they determine the connection between the other woman and general petraeus. >> new york senator chuck schumer is warning insurance companies don't force hurricane deductibles on homeowners in the aftermath of superstorm sandy. regular deductibles require the residents to pay a percentage of the property value which could mean $15,000 or more for residents. the national weather service says that sandy did not meet the technical criteria to be labeled a hurricane when it made landfall, and schumer suggests challenging this. tens of thousands in the storm's path still without electricity were forced to put on layers to battle the cold. some residents are celebrating the first day with power back on. cnn national correspondent

susan candiotti in the rockaway neighborhood of queens with the latest. susan? >> don, tonight in the high-rise apartment buildings behind me that house 600 families is a disabled mother of two. she has been unable to leave her apartment for the last two weeks. we went in to take a look around and saw deplorable conditions. out in broad daylight, it is easy to see, but look at how dark it is going to get when we walk inside of the building. bryant pearson is in charge of the tenant association, and he is going to give us a tour. let's see. by contrast, you can see it is bright sunshine outside and i just -- i don't know how you can see anything in here, bryant. holy cow, i'm holding on to the back of your jacket, because i cannot see a thing. >> this in here, this is how you go up and down the stairs. >> hold on. i cannot see. there, okay, got it. >> this is how we have to live here. we have been living like this

since the storm hit. >> bryant, is this the seventh floor? >> yes, it is the seventh floor. we are going to talk to a couple of people. >> reporter: has there been any looting here, any stealing? >> a little bit. watch that step. >> okay. >> that's decent. >> oh, whoa. that is right there? >> yeah, right there. that is feces. >> be careful where you walk. >> when the national guard came, they put tags on the door stating that they came by to check. >> and that was on november 10th. >> yes. >> reporter: ivy, hi, i'm with cnn, susan candiotti. now we are in ivy's apartment, and, ivy, you have two young daughters over here and you guys are ages -- how old are you? >> 5. >> and? >> 10. >> okay. now it is a little bit warm in here and here is why. ivy has natural gas working and so that the stove is working and she has a pot of water on here giving off steam to at least warm up the room.

a lot of places are -- don't even have this much. ivy, when is the last time that you were able to leave the building? >> about two weeks ago. >> right before the storm? >> right before the storm. >> and the reason you couldn't, they turned off the electricity, but why can't you get out, because you are sitting in a walker. >> yes, i can't get out because i can't go down the stairs in seven flights. >> reporter: you are suffering the aftermath of a stroke? >> yes. >> reporter: what is it like at night? >> at nights, it's scary then i have to go empty the garbage and my sister and baby sister has to hold the flashlight and i hear noises and it is not like bad noises but the wind is like woo like the ghosts and stuff, and sometimes it scare me even though i am 10, but i still get scared. >> reporter: ivy, what do you think about this? >> i think it is terrible. like they should be prepared for it. >> reporter: how are you able to take care of your two girls? >> well, my oldest daughter is helpful and stuff and when it is time to go outside when the food comes around,

she goes down but it is scary to send her down, because it is so dark. >> reporter: imagine what it is like for that mother to rely on her 10-year-old daughter to send her into those dark stairwells in order to keep in touch with the outside world? well, she did get some hope today, because the national guard came by and delivered mres and a pallet of water, and they promise that they will be back. don? >> susan, thank you. after mitt romney's loss this past week, many in the gop are re-evaluating long-held campaign strategies and some say it is time to chuck them. i chatted with two republicans, and they have ideas next.

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act right now. call the number on your screen now! gun violence is a very real threat to many inner city kids and some in philadelphia are facing that threat head on. sara hoi has more in this week's "black in america." >> good morning. i work with gunshot patients. how many of you know someone who has been shot? >> reporter: this educator is on the mission to save lives. charles and amy goldberg, chief trauma surgeon at temple chief trauma surgeon at temple university hospital co-founded

the cradle to grave program in the city of brotherly love. >> i want to take you to the scene and show you what we do. >> reporter: it brings local high school students into a trauma center to show you the final minutes of life of someone who loses their life. >> that man stood over lamont and fired ten more shots into him. >> you know, gun violence can kill. so i think it's really our responsibility to prevent these kids from coming in. >> reporter: among america's largest cities philadelphia's homicide rate is the worst with african-americans making up 85% of the victims. >> you know, the statistics suggest that as a young black man, you have a greater chance of being shot and killed in philadelphia than you would have if you were a soldier serving in the conflicts of afghanistan and iraq. that is absurd to me. >> reporter: since 2006, more than 7,000 students have come through the cradle to grave program. >> like i don't want that to happen to me. like i want to be able to live, be something that my mom would want me to be. >> we want to really teach them the preciousness of life, and

that in an instant your life can be changed forever. >> reporter: change they want for the better. sarah hoy, cnn, philadelphia. who is black in america? is being black determined by the color of your skin, by your family, by what society says or something else? our soledad o'brien will examine provocative questions about skin color and race in our new documentary "who is black in america?" that premieres sunday december 9th at 8:00 eastern on cnn. frpts mitt romney lost the election but may have made history. his loss could go down as the last presidential campaign to bank on the white vote for a win. i spoke about this to al cardenas and patrick milsap who is newt gingrich's former campaign chief of staff. i asked what republicans can do to do better in 2016? >> i think at first we have an

outreach program. we are banking on votes that are not necessarily in the bank and counting the votes that clearly aren't necessarily there. >> al, i would not be going out on a limb saying that the gop has a problem, and does your party have a future in national elections if it doesn't diversify? >> well, if it can't, it's not just political malpractice but political suicide. we just need to do a better job and as i tell my friends on the center right and conservative right, we don't need to change our values, because they are winning values, but we need a long-term commitment and real commitment to the minority communities. we can't lose the hispanic vote 4-1. we can't lose the asian vote 4-1. we can't lose the black vote -1. you start out with a premise that is 60%-plus white american vote is not going to happen,

because of the declines in population. they are winnable votes, but we need to pursue them, and frankly, i have been there and been the chairman of the party in florida when we used to get 60% of the vote from hispanics and a larger percentage from african-americans, but you have to have a game plan and you have to have the dedication and the resources and the commitment to show up, show respect and be there at all times, and i think that it can be done, but, frankly, we need to change the scope of our energies and the scope of our commitments. >> you see, this is not an attempt by the republicans to do something and fail. this is the lack of the attempt of the republicans to do anything at all. the first state race, state race i ever worked on was the united states senate seat in 1996. and i asked, you know, very naively, why don't we go to black churches? well, they will never vote for us. why don't we retreat to students and young people. those people never vote. well, here we are in 2012 and that is a completely different story and we need to make the

attempt. >> but what i heard al say, and what president obama won because he promised free things and i don't want to misquote you there, but i'm not sure if it is a promise of free things. when i hear people saying that they voted for president obama because they wanted things, why else do you vote for a candidate if you don't want something from the candidate? >> let me tell you something, obama won this election and everybody back up and calm down, and obama won the election, because he has learned micro politicking and republicans are stuck on macro politicking. we are spending hundreds of millions on tv when people are getting the news from twitter and all of this stuff. we are not running a modern campaign. >> you're absolutely right. if being on the ground -- hang on now. you can respond but i want to say this before you respond. i think that what you say is right on, because being on the ground, everybody underestimated the obama ground campaign and the romney people were calling automatic phone calls saying, hey, we need you to pick up and support our campaign.

the obama campaign had offices in the communities for years and i see that you have not voted. if you go and vote, we will take your name off or find a way to get you to the polls and vote and they were talking about gop tv and politics and i realized they were getting people to the polls and reaching people personally, al. >> right. let me say this, president obama received 12 million less votes this year than he did in 2008. mitt romney got almost 3 million votes less than john mccain did. this election, and you could come up with a lot of arguments as to why mitt romney didn't win. i thought he left it all on the playing field, and i thought he did as well as he could give given the circumstances. but the truth of the matter is that we couldn't come up with enough votes to win. >> patrick, it is not just about the candidate or putting a candidate that has a, you know, an hispanic sounding last name or a minority on the ticket. you said that you not only had that problem, but you have -- >> an angry white man problem. >> angry white man problem. >> i don't want to discredit

marco rubio for just saying that he is an up-and-comer because he is hispanic. he's an up-and-comer because he can look into the camera and express a conservative viewpoint without being angry or saying the word rape quite frankly. he connects with people and so the fact that he is a cuban-american is a plus but it is not the reason that he is up and coming. >> explain angry man -- >> the gop has a problem of getting candidates in line and put them up and say it is his turn now and his turn now, and at this point, they are older white guys, and quite frankly, we need to be looking at the broad spectrum of candidates. >> we talked about how difficult it is for many returning vets to find work. this past week, several got pretty good gigs in congress. that is next. eóoç=ñp

big changes because of this past week's election. voters ushered in the legalization of recreational marijuana to the people of colorado and washington state. but the federal government still views weed as illegal. so those states will still need to navigate federal laws before citizens can legally buy and sell it. the troubled u.s. postal service is expecting a boom this holiday season and expects to

handle 365 million packages this year, a 20% jump from 2011. that's even more business than fedex and u.p.s. combined. the busiest day will be december 17th when customers scramble to get packages in the mail for on-time christmas delivery. walmart is trying to edge out the competition for black friday. the world's biggest retailer is opening at 8:00 p.m. thanksgiving, two hours earlier than they did last year. sears and kmart are also opening on thanksgiving. that is this week's "getting down to business," alison kosik, cnn, new york. ♪ while 2016 is already on the minds of some politicians,

several veterans who served in iraq and afghanistan are celebrating their 2012 victory, in fact, a historical election for them. our pentagon correspondent barbara starr has more on the veterans ready to take their seat in congress. >> reporter: republican tom cotton, a veteran of iraq and afghanistan, was one of the big winners tuesday. seizing the fourth congressional district seat in arkansas. >> although i don't know what committee i'll be assigned to ultimately, i wernl want to play a central role in helping to guide america's foreign policy in the next congress. >> reporter: cotton, a law school graduate, was in the 101st airborne division. nine veterans from these wars have just won congressional seats, seven republicans and two democrats. >> this is definitely a historical election for the iraq and afghanistan veterans. there are going to be more in the next congress, twice as many in the next congress as there are currently. >> reporter: seth lynn has a program training veterans running for office. he says that iraq and

afghanistan veterans may finally have found their political voice. >> and i think that a lot of people have come home, really established themselves in their communities, become leaders, you know, in business, in public service, within their communities and have now been having a lot more success running for office. >> reporter: despite the influx of 9/11 era veterans into congress, the overall number of veterans is declining. both the house and the senate will have fewer veterans this year than last. democrat tammy duckworth lost both of her legs in iraq, and she has just won a seat in congress. she believes the downturn is a moment in history. >> the giants, the lions of the world war ii generation step away, and the korean war generation steps away, and when the last of the vietnam vets, as they begin to retire, now you go to the all volunteer force, and

there are just fewer of us in general. >> reporter: duckworth says she has spent a lifetime in service, and she believes that service is what has helped her and other veterans win their races for elected office. barbara starr, cnn, the pentagon. thank you, barbara. next the words of the president and the sights and sounds from this veterans day.

president barack obama laid a wreath today at the tomb of unknowns at arlington cemetery just before his speech honoring veterans of every generation. >> today our proud nation expresses our gratitude, but we do so mindful that no ceremony, no parade, no hug or handshake is enough to truly honor that service. for that, we must do more. for that we must commit this day and every day to serving you as well as you have served us. in this country, we take care of our own, especially our veterans who have served us so bravely and sacrificed so selflessly in our name, and we carry on knowing that our best days always lie ahead. on this day, we thank all of our